New Delhi, Apr 17 (IANS): Since the coronavirus outbreak hit the world, a big debate has also emerged on whether hydroxychloroquine is the cure to the deadly virus which has so far claimed 420 lives in India.

The Medical Superintendent of India's premier Safdarjung Hospital believes that HCQ is more of a protection mechanism than a cure saying that the anti-malarial drug has capabilities to "prevent the virus from entering the cell".

"In my opinion HCQ definitely prevent the virus from entering the cell and to a large extent this is the reason this is given to doctors treating high-risk COVID patients," said Dr Balwinder Arora, Medical Superintendent (MS), Safdarjung Hospital.

Arora, however, clarified that HCQ isn't enough to treat COVID-19. "For treating this virus, HCQ has not much of a role unless it is combined with other antiviral drugs. It has been found by various entities like WHO that HCQ if combined with other drugs helps in treating the virus."

The only point is that people above the age of 60 or with some underlying disease should not take it and even general population should not use this drug without proper medical consultation, he added.

Reacting to the recent instances of assault on doctors who are busy treating COVID patients, Arora said, "Doctors, nurses and other health care workers are angels sent by God, we should respect them and their service. Such instances would also lead to a bad impression of our society in the international media."